On that I demand the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. This is a 5-minute vote. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 422, nays 0, not voting 9, as follows: [Roll No. 493]…

There are long-held concerns about the integrity and independence of the Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General under the leadership of Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall.

It is ridiculous that the OIG has been without a permanent head for 5 years.

On that I demand the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. This is a 5-minute vote. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 422, nays 2, not voting 7, as follows: [Roll No. 492]…

In regards to oversight, it is not only Congress' right, but our responsibility to hold the executive branch accountable for its actions and decisions.

We don't want good proposals to be studied to death and have paralysis-by-analysis.

Conservation alone is not the answer.

The agency's feasibility study process needs to be modernized in a productive way.

I firmly believe that America needs an 'all-of-the-above' water supply strategy.

the committee has held numerous oversight hearings about the Obama administration's lack of ESA data transparency.

the bills before us today are not the only solutions to ESA issues. But these bills do demonstrate a continuing and growing awareness that ESA, as it currently exists, is not serving the people or species well.

the Fish and Wildlife Service listed it anyway, showing it was more fearful of environmental litigation, it appears, than giving the states a reasonable amount of time to let their plan work.

the Endangered Species Act, or ESA, a law that has not been reauthorized for over 25 years, and which, I might add, has a recovery rate of less than 2 percent.

this administration has made it a primary priority to settle with environmental groups, setting arbitrary deadlines for hundreds of ESA listing decisions.

these bills demonstrate a continuing and growing awareness that ESA as it currently exists is not serving people or species well.

The cumulative method embodied in H.R. 4319 considers the true costs to the lives and livelihoods of those who live and work within a proposed designation.

I submitted legislation called the 'Common Sense in Species Protection Act,' which calls not only for the true measure of the cost of a designation on lives and livelihoods, but for that cost to be considered when making designations.

H.R. 4319 requires the Secretary of the Interior to consider economic impact when designating areas within a proposed critical habitat designation.

I thank the gentleman for yielding and for bringing this issue to the floor. I think it adds very much to what we are trying to do with this underlying legislation, which is adding transparency to our efforts. I support the gentleman's…

I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis), another person who is the author of another section of this bill.

I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Stewart), a former member of the Natural Resources Committee.

I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) who is also experiencing the effects of this act.

I advise the gentleman from Oregon that I am prepared to close, so if he wants to use his time, then I will close. I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. I will close where I…

I have an amendment made in order under the rule. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 1, line 13, insert ``, State agency,'' after ``Governor''. Page 1, strike line 16 and…

I am very pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford), in whose district we had a field hearing on the impact of the Endangered Species Act.